Why You Should Hang With More Successful Writers

If you’re trying to break into writing for television or film, chances are you’re already hanging around with some other writers. If you don’t have friends who are going after the goals you are, get some new friends.

It’s not that complicated. Join some groups, get out and meet some other writers. You can do it. You have to decide you want to do it first. Then you take the logical next steps.

If you can manage it, try to make friends with writers who are just a bit more successful than you. It’s clearly more intimidating to try to hang out with really successful writers. You know who I’m talking about. You don’t have to meet those people right away.

There’s probably someone in your screenwriting class who’s placed very high up in—let’s say—the Page screenwriting competition. That’s someone you want to get to know better. Offer to buy him coffee and find out how they did it. Be curious. Have an open mind. Be friendly.

What happens when you start hanging around with people who’ve had some success? If you’re smart, you listen to them. Ask questions. Find out where they got the idea for their script. Which screenwriting books do they like? Do they have an agent or a manager? How did they make that happen?

When you get close to a more successful writer, you start to see succeeding is possible. After all, your new friend’s had some success and they’re just someone in your class. Hanging around with this person will help you feel you can place in the Page competition, too. Success is possible.

Where do you find writers who’ve achieved some success --but not too much? You can find them working on laptops in coffee shops and bars. You can find them at seminars, contests, and pitchfests. Even if you can’t find an actual person to hang around with, you can join an online group (on Facebook, LinkedIn, for example) and get to know those writers.

Writers who’ve experienced some success are generally pretty happy to share their secrets. Like all writers they’ve struggled and overcome some steep odds. Let them share their stories with you. If you listen you’ll learn how to sell your own screenplays.

The better you get to know writers who’ve experienced some success, you’ll pick up on how confident determined they are about writing. Those feeling can be contagious. When you see someone you know achieve their goals, it makes you feel that you can do it too.

If you really put your mind to it you can make lots of friends who are decent screenwriters. Then you can meet for coffee every once in a while. You can share your movie ideas with them and gage from their reaction how good they are. At some point you’ll be exchanging scripts. You’ll be giving each other feedback.

The writers who are the furthest ahead of you in their careers will have the most valuable feedback. When you read their scripts, you’ll get a better idea about how to do it right. You can discuss what works and what doesn’t. After a while you’re both bound to get better.

If your successful friends get to know you and still feel that you can make, it think about how great that’ll make you feel. And that’ll do a lot for your confidence – which will help you trust your judgment. Hopefully you’ll both advance in your careers together and be there for each other.

Another big part of succeeding in screenwriting is networking with other writers, directors and producers. Your writer friends will be able to introduce you to the people in the field who can help you get closer to your goals. And you should be able to share your contacts with them.

You and your friends will hopefully reach professional levels in screenwriting about the same time. And if you keep in touch you’ll be able to help each other throughout your careers. In my twenty five years of writing for film and television I know I’ve gotten many staff jobs and some feature writing assignments by keeping up with my friends.

When my writing partner and I were just starting out we took a writing class with Lorenzo Music, the creator of the TV show Rhoda. We met some other writers who were at about our level. When we started to get work, they did too. We helped each other get jobs on four different shows.

One of the writer/producers who gave me my first job in television (writing for Mork and Mindy) came up for a job when I was looking for staff on my own show. Some fifteen years after he’d given me and my partner a job, I was more than happy to return the favor.

David Silverman, LMFT, treats anxiety and depression, especially in highly sensitive individuals in his LA practice. Having experienced the rejection, stress, creative blocks, paralyzing perfectionism, and career reversals over a 25 year career as a Film/TV writer, he’s uniquely suited to work with gifted, creative, and sensitive clients experiencing anxiety, depression, and addiction. David received training at Stanford and Antioch, is fully EMDR certified, and works with programs treating Victims of Crime and Problem Gamblers. Visit www.DavidSilvermanLMFT.com.

LA-CAMFT Diversity Committee
Presents:

Therapists of Color Support Group

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Second Sunday of Every Month

11:00 am-1:00 pm

Via Zoom

Therapists of Color Support Group

A safe place to receive peer support and process experiences of racism (systemic, social, and internalized), discrimination, implicit bias, racist injury, aggression, and micro-aggressions, along with additional experiences that therapists of color encounter in the field of mental health.

Open to LA-CAMFT Members and Non-Members
Second Sunday of Each Month
Location: Zoom Meeting

For more information, contact the LA-CAMFT Diversity Committee at DiversityCommittee@lacamft.org.

Event Details: 

For:
Licensed Therapists, Associates, and Students

Event Details: 
Sunday, December 11, 2022, 11:00 am-1:00 pm (PT)
Time of Check-In: 10:50 am

Where: 
Online Via Zoom
Once you have registered for the presentation, we will email you a link to Zoom a few days before the presentation.

Cost:
No Charge

Online Registration CLOSES on the day of the event.

Questions about Registration? Contact Diversity Committee, diversitycommittee@lacamft.org.

Register Here

Sunshine in a Box

As the days grow darker in the fall and winter, so do many peoples’ moods. 10% or more of the population in northern climates may suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression that is cyclical and affected by the time of year. Symptoms include feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, poor concentration, low energy or fatigue, and problems with eating and/or sleeping.

SAD is most often treated the same way depression is: with medication. However, SAD sufferers looking for holistic options are in luck. Since research suggests that SAD is caused by the diminished light during the winter months, effective treatment has been developed using electrical light boxes that mimic the sun’s rays. “Light therapy is a way to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) by exposure to artificial light. It is safe and has few side effects,” states the Mayo Clinic (2010). A Canadian study (American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006) found light therapy and fluoxetine, better known as Prozac, to be equally effective.

I decided to use myself as a guinea pig so I ordered a light box online. The process was easy, with prices ranging from $120-150. When the light box arrived, I started my treatment, about 15 minutes a day of exposure. The light is supposed to shine indirectly into your eyes rather than directly, so I put the box, about the size of a coffee table book, on the side of my desk. It beamed the measured dose of light while I drank my morning coffee and perused Facebook. I noticed a positive effect on my mood right away. In fact, it felt so good I gave myself three more doses, an overdose which produced a headache.

Light box therapy should be done in the morning, as it may be too stimulating later in the day. It’s important to keep a consistent schedule during the winter months. If you stop too soon when you think you’re improving, you’ll miss the cumulative effect which helps bring positive results. Some people experience immediate relief as I did; for others, it may take a week of treatments or longer.

Light therapy is often not enough on its own to provide a cure for SAD. The treatment of any type of depression demands a well-rounded approach. Exercise, psychotherapy, meditation, increasing pleasurable activities, being around other people and not isolating yourself, and even medication: all these are important components of a holistic treatment plan. But if you’ve noticed a correlation between bad weather and bad moods, light box therapy can be a valuable tool for recovery. It’s certainly made a difference for me.

Catherine Auman, LMFT is a licensed therapist with advanced training in both traditional and spiritual psychology with over thirty years of successful professional experience helping thousands of clients. She has headed nationally based psychiatric programs as well as worked through alternative methodologies based on ancient traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at catherineauman.com.

LA-CAMFT’s Declaration
of Inclusion, Diversity, and Anti-Racism

Psychotherapy can be transformative in a democratic society, and can open intellectual inquiry that, at its best, influences and results in lasting positive change. In recognition of our shared humanity and concern for our community and world, LA-CAMFT loudly and overtly disavows all racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, ageism, and hate speech or actions that attempt to silence, threaten, and degrade others. We in LA-CAMFT leadership hereby affirm our solidarity with those individuals and groups most at risk and further declare that embracing diversity and fostering inclusivity are central to the mission of our organization.

As mental health professionals, we value critical reasoning, evidence-based arguments, self-reflection, and the imagination. We hope to inspire empathy, advocate for social and environmental justice, and provide an ethical framework for our clients, our community, and ourselves.

We in LA-CAMFT leadership are committed to:

(1) the recognition, respect, and affirmation of differences among peoples

(2) challenging oppression and structural and procedural inequities that exist in society, generally, and in local therapeutic, agency, and academic settings

(3) offering diverse programming content and presenters throughout our networking event calendar, as well as in our workshops, trainings, and special events

While we traverse the turbulent seas of the important and necessary changes taking place in our country, in order to form a “more perfect union.” we wish to convey our belief that within our community exists an immense capacity for hope. We believe in and have seen how psychotherapy, therapeutic relationships, and mental health professions can be agents of positive change, without ignoring or denying that the practice and business of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy have historically been the cause of great harm, trauma, and emotional toll, particularly for people of color and other marginalized groups. We are committed to doing our part to help remedy that which we have the position, privilege, and/or resources to do so.

At LA-CAMFT events, all members are welcome regardless of race/ethnicity, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, disabilities, religion, regional background, Veteran status, citizenship, status, nationality and other diverse identities that we each bring to our professions. We expect that leadership and members will promote an atmosphere of respect for all members of our community.

In a diverse community, the goal of inclusiveness encourages and appreciates expressions of different ideas, opinions, and beliefs, so that potentially divisive conversations and interactions become opportunities for intellectual and personal growth. LA-CAMFT leadership wants to embrace this opportunity to create and maintain inclusive and safe spaces for all of our members, free of bias, discrimination, and harassment, where people will be treated with respect and dignity and where all individuals are provided equitable opportunity to participate, contribute, and succeed.

We value your voice in this process. If you feel that our leadership or programming falls short of this commitment, we encourage you to get involved, and to begin a dialogue with those in leadership. It is undeniable that the success of LA-CAMFT relies on the participation, support, and understanding of all its members.

Wishing good health to you and yours, may you find yourself centered in feelings of abundance, safety, belonging, and peace.

Standing together,
The LA-CAMFT Board of Directors and Diversity Committee